You may look forward to Corned Beef & Cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day? How about a Corned Beef & Cabbage Sandwich?

If it sounds strange, remember that cole slaw is simply sliced cabbage with dressing, and that the Reuben is a grilled or toasted sandwich on rye or pumpernickel with corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian Dressing.

In this recipe from Dietz & Watson, they cabbage is simply steamed, but nothing’s stopping you from serving the sandwich with a side of slaw. Or a cold beer.

This photo shows the sandwich made on a panini press, but you can make a conventional sandwich as you prefer.

This sandwich is a relative of
In addition to corned beef hash, this is one of our favorite uses for leftover corned beef.

RECIPE: CORNED BEEF & CABBAGE SANDWICH

Ingredients Per Sandwich

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon oil

1/2 cup green cabbage, julienned finely

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 slices rye bread or substitute

2 teaspoons Dijon or grainy mustard

6 thin slices corned beef

2 ounces Cheddar Cheese

Optional garnish: pickles

Preparation

1. BRING 1/4 cup of water and 1 tablespoon oil to a boil in a medium pot over high heat. Add the cabbage and reduce the heat to low. Steam the cabbage for 15 minutes but do not overcook; the cabbage should still remain crisp. Drain and pat with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

2. LAY two slices of bread on a flat work surface. Spread 1 teaspoon of mustard on each slice. Pile the corned beef, Cheddar and cabbage on one slice. Add the top slice of bread. Grill on a panini press or serve as is.

WHAT IS CORNED BEEF?

Corning refers to curing or pickling the meat in a seasoned brine. The word refers to the “corns” or grains of rock salt (today, kosher salt) that is mixed with water to make the brine.

Typically, brisket is used to make corned beef; the dish has many regional variations and seasonings. Smoking a corned beef, and adding extra spices, produces pastrami.

Corned beef was a staple in middle-European Jewish cuisine. Irish immigrants learned about corned beef on New York’s Lower East Side from their Jewish neighbors, and adopted it as a cheaper alternative to Irish bacon. Bacon and cabbage is a popular Irish dish. (Irish bacon is a lean, smoked pork loin similar to Canadian bacon. Here are the different types of bacon.)

Cattle in Ireland were not used for meat but for dairy products. Pork, an inexpensive meat in Ireland, was a dinner table staple.

But in the U.S., pork was much more expensive than the American staple meat, beef; and brisket, which required several hours of cooking to tenderize, was an affordable cut. Irish-Americans substituted corned beef for the bacon, and and Corned Beef & Cabbage was born.

1. CUT the ends off the cucumbers, then cut each cucumber into 1” slices (6 pieces per cucumber). You should end up with about 48 slices. Using a small melon-baller, scoop out the center of each bite to 3/4 of the way down, leaving the bottom intact. Set aside.

2. MASH together the wasabi, cream cheese, soy sauce and pickled ginger ith a fork in a small bowl, until smooth and combined. Then mix in the shrimp to thoroughly combine.

3. TRANSFER the cream cheese mixture to a piping bag (substitute a food storage bag) with a plain round tip. Pipe about 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture into each cucumber bite. Sprinkle with chives or tobiko before serving.

Curried Goat Cheese Bites from Sunset Products.

RECIPE #2: CURRIED GOAT CHEESE, APRICOT & PISTACHIO BITES

For the holidays, you can garnish these bites with finely minced dried cranberries for a red-and-green theme.

Ingredients For 48 Bites

8 mini cucumbers

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

5 ounces fresh goat cheese, softened

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup chopped pistachios, lightly toasted

1/4 cup finely minced dried apricots

Garnish: chopped pistachios and dried cranberries

Preparation

1. CUT the ends off the cucumbers, then cut each cucumber into 1” slices (6 pieces per cucumber). You should end up with about 48 slices. Using a small melon-baller, scoop out the center of each bite to 3/4 of the way down, leaving the bottom intact. Set aside.

2. MASH together the cream cheese, goat cheese, curry powder and salt with a fork in a small bowl, until smooth and combined. Then mix in the shrimp to thoroughly combine.

3. TRANSFER the cream cheese mixture to a piping bag (substitute a food storage bag) with a plain round tip. Pipe about 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture into each cucumber bite. Sprinkle with pistachios and dried cranberries before serving.

A tip from McCormick: Use green food color to tint minty chocolate chip cookies for your favorite leprechauns. If you don’t like mint, you can substitute vanilla extract.

Prep time is 15 minutes, cook time is 10-12 minutes.

RECIPE: GREEN MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Ingredients For 3 Dozen Cookies

2-1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1-1/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons green food color

1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract

1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F. Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.

2. BEAT the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, food color and peppermint extract; mix well. Gradually beat in the flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Forget the green beer on St. Patrick’s Day: It’s going to be the cheapest brew on tap. Who would color craft beer green? If you must do so, go for the palest style, Wheat Beer, a.k.a. Weissbier, Weizenbier and Witbier. It takes the color best.

Instead of the green stuff, consider two beer styles with authentic Irish roots: Dry Stout and Red Ale. American craft brewers from coast to coast make them. In fact, Irish Red Ale is more popular in the U.S. these days than in Ireland!

Dig in to the two styles below, and check out the other types of beers in our Beer Glossary.

IRISH-STYLE DRY STOUT

Stouts are a higher-alcohol version of porter (7% A.B.V.* or higher), a dark beer made from roasted malt or roasted barley, hops, water and yeast.

All Stouts are Porters, but they are the stronger Porters (the “stoutest” ones). You can review their history and brewing techniques at BeerConnoisseur.com.

There are different Stout styles, including American Sweet Stout; Baltic Porter; Milk Stout/Sweet Stout/English Sweet Stout, made with lactose, milk sugar; and Imperial Stout/Russian Imperial Stout, a style first brewed in the 18th century for export to the court of Catherine the Great.

*A.B.V. stands for Alcohol By Volume, the percent of alcohol in the beverage.

Guinness, the world’s most famous Stout. Annual sales are almost $2 billion. Photo courtesy Romano.

But the most common style of Stout is Dry Stout, the Irish-style Stout represented by Guinness Draught, the world’s best selling Stout. In the early 20th century, when Milk Stout/Sweet Stout became the dominant style in England, Ireland maintained a preference for the non-sweet or Dry Stout, also known as Standard Stout. With the world dominance of Guinness, it is now simply referred to as Stout.

Irish-style Dry Stouts are black in color with notes of coffee-like roasted barley and a roasted malt aroma. The hop bitterness is medium to medium high. The head is tan or tan-tinged.

Taste them next to Guinness Draught and any other imported Irish stouts you come across, such as Murphy’s Irish Stout, O’Hara’s Celtic Stout, Porterhouse Brewing Co. Oyster Stout.

You may also find Guinness Black Lager, a lager style made with stout’s roasted barley, which provides the dark color and fuller body; and Harp Lager, a conventional style.

Imported from the Emerald Isle: Smithwicks Red Irish Ale, the first modern Irish Red Ale.

IRISH RED ALE

Traditional0 Irish Red Ales seems to have originated in 1710 at the Smithwick Brewery in Kilkenny. Today, Red Ales are even more popular in the U.S. than in Ireland.

The reddish or coppery hue is a result of brewing with a percentage of kilned malts and roasted barley. The style focuses on strong malt flavors with a light hoppiness and slight nuttiness/roastiness from the roasted grains.

Irish Red Ales are usually well balanced, with an average A.B.V. of 3.5% to 5%, although you can find brews with up to 8% alcohol. You may find hints of caramel and toffee from the malt notes, along with a crisp, dry finish.

IRISH RED ALE FOOD PAIRINGS

For snacking, put out some smoked or toasted almonds, and mild or fruity cheeses (like fresh goat cheese or Asiago) with walnuts.

For a starter, serve a goat cheese salad or a green salad with toasted nuts (a nut oil vinaigrette is a home run).